Oracle acquisition strengthens JD Edwards customer base

19.01.2007
The JD Edwards user community is alive and kicking. A few years down the track and it is evident that Oracle Corp.'s JD Edwards Inc. acquisition has strengthened the brand with the Australian customer base continuing to grow.

In the last two quarters of 2006 Oracle secured seven new JD Edwards customers. Existing customers are in the process of upgrading their pre-acquisition deployments.

PeopleSoft acquired JD Edwards in July 2003 for US$1.8 billion. Oracle then acquired PeopleSoft Inc. for $10.3 billion.

Part of the revival has been the development of the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne suite.

According to the chairman of the ANZ (Australia New Zealand) Quest User Group, Daniel Strassberg, "Oracle does the listening rather than the leading."

Strassberg claims the user group's membership has actually increased since June 2005.

He said Oracle has strengthened the JD Edwards user community which had floundered during PeopleSoft's reign.

Oracle's ANZ general manager of applications, Scott Dawes, said Oracle's continued commitment to invest in the JD Edwards technology has won the support of users.

Dawes confirmed the new customer wins include McGuigan Simeon Wines, Linatex, Cash's Australia, Nine Dots Management, Symbion Health Consumer Products, Moreland City Council, Fleet Australia and Austrian Energy & Environment (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Companies undertaking major upgrades include Cerebos, Origin Energy Resources Ltd, Downer EDI, Leighton Holdings, Blackmores, BIS Cleanaway and Yalumba.

Australian company, Lidco, which provides architectural framing systems, said EnterpriseOne was good value for money.

Lidco Chief Executive Officer John Locket, said the solution provides a lower degree of complexity than alternative solutions.

JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 8.12 became available in Australia last year.

Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal recently upgraded to EnterpriseOne 8.11.

The terminal's systems software engineer, Russell Codlin, said the upgrade has improved spending visibility across the entire group.